Atypical Emotional Electrodermal Activity in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Open accessAbstract
Past studies in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) indicate atypical peripheral physiological arousal. However, the conditions under which these atypicalities arise and their link with behavioral emotional expressions and core ASD symptoms remain uncertain. Given the importance of physiological arousal in affective, learning, and cognitive processes, the current study examined changes in skin conductance level (ΔSCL) in 41 toddlers with ASD (mean age: 22.7 months, SD: 2.9) and 32 age‐matched toddlers with typical development (TD) (mean age: 21.6 months, SD: 3.6) in response to probes designed to induce anger, joy, and fear emotions. The magnitude of ΔSCL was comparable during anger (P= 0.206,d= 0.30) and joy (P= 0.996,d= 0.01) conditions, but significantly lower during the fear condition (P= 0.001,d= 0.83) in toddlers with ASD compared to TD peers. In the combined samples, ΔSCL positively correlated with intensity of behavioral emotional expressivity during the anger (r[71] = 0.36,P= 0.002) and fear (r[68] = 0.32,P= 0.007) conditions, but not in the joy (r[69] = −0.15,P= 0.226) condition. Finally, ΔSCL did not associate with autism symptom severity in any emotion‐eliciting condition in the ASD group. Toddlers with ASD displayed attenuated ΔSCL to situations aimed at eliciting fear, which may forecast the emergence of highly prevalent internalizing and externalizing problems in this population. The study putatively identifies ΔSCL as a dimension not associated with severity of autism but with behavioral responses in negatively emotionally challenging events and provides support for the feasibility, validity, and incipient utility of examining ΔSCL in response to emotional challenges in very young children. Lay Summary: Physiological arousal was measured in toddlers with autism exposed to frustrating, pleasant, and threatening tasks. Compared to typically developing peers, toddlers with autism showed comparable arousal responses to frustrating and pleasant events, but lower responses to threatening events. Importantly, physiological arousal and behavioral expressions were aligned during frustrating and threatening events, inviting exploration of physiological arousal to measure responses to emotional challenges. Furthermore, this study advances the understanding of precursors to emotional and behavioral problems common in older children with autism.Autism Res 2020, 13: 1476–1488. © 2020 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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In Vernetti et al., eliciting anger, frustration or joy evoked a similar increase in sympathetic activity in the ASD and control group.
“eliciting anger, frustration or joy evoked a similar increase in sympathetic activity in the ASD and control group (Figure 6).”
From Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Is Not Associated With Abnormal Autonomic Nervous System Function: Hypothesis and Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [92]
The Discussion reports that anger- or frustration-eliciting probes increased physiological arousal from baseline in both ASD and typically developing toddlers, with no statistically significant difference in the magnitude of increase. For joy-eliciting probes, however, it reports comparable changes between groups but no significant increase from baseline in either group. The claim incorrectly includes joy among the conditions that evoked an increase. (LLM, conf=0.91)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredToddlers with ASD should not be labeled as "dysregulated" or "upregulated" with respect to autonomic functioning.
“They conclude that toddlers with ASD should not be labeled as “dysregulated” or “upregulated” (92).”
From Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Is Not Associated With Abnormal Autonomic Nervous System Function: Hypothesis and Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [92]
The Discussion (page not provided) says the results do not suggest toddlers with ASD are always “dysregulated” or “up-regulated,” because their arousal responses depend on the situation. The citing sentence omits “always” and thus makes the conclusion more categorical than the paper does; the paper also suggests potential differential regulation. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSome children with ASD have a decreased sympathetic response to fear stimuli.
“Hence a correct conclusion appears that some children with ASD have a decreased sympathetic response to fear stimuli.”
From Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Is Not Associated With Abnormal Autonomic Nervous System Function: Hypothesis and Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [92]
In response to a fear-inducing stimulus, the control group exhibited an increase while the ASD group exhibited a decrease in sympathetic activity.
“In response to a fear-inducing stimulus, the control group exhibited an increase while the ASD group exhibited a decrease in sympathetic activity”
From Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Is Not Associated With Abnormal Autonomic Nervous System Function: Hypothesis and Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [92]
In Vernetti et al., there was no statistically significant difference in baseline sympathetic values and no correlation between the degree of sympathetic responses and the severity of autism.
“The authors did not find a statistically significant difference in baseline sympathetic values and no correlation between the degree of sympathetic responses and the severity of autism.”
From Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Is Not Associated With Abnormal Autonomic Nervous System Function: Hypothesis and Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [92]
The profile in autism is typified by high basal sympathetic tone, lower parasympathetic activation, and low sympathetic reactivity to certain stimuli including tests of orthostatic tolerance.
“The profile in autism is typified by high basal sympathetic (fight or flight) tone, lower parasympathetic (rest and digest) activation, and low sympathetic reactivity to certain stimuli including tests of orthostatic tolerance [105,106,107,108].”
From The Relationship between Autism and Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes/Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders (2020) · cites this paper as [106]
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References 118 · Cited by 20
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Dawson ME, Schell AM, & Filion DL (2000). The electrodermal system. In: Tassinary LG, Berntson GG, Cacioppo JT (Eds). Handbook Of Psychophysiology (pp. 200– 223). Cambridge: Cambride University Press.
- Lord C, Rutter M, DiLavore P, Risi S, Gotham K, & Bishop S (2012). Autism diagnostic observation schedule–2nd edition (ADOS-2). Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Corporation.
- Authors
- Vernetti, A., Shic, F., Boccanfuso, L., Macari, S., Kane‐Grade, F., Milgramm, A., Hilton, E., Heymann, P., Goodwin, M. S., & Chawarska, K.
- Affiliations
- Child Study Center Yale University School of Medicine New Haven Connecticut USA
- University of Washington (US)
- Vän Robotics Columbia South Carolina USA
- Yale University (US)
- Boston Children's Hospital (US)
- University at Albany, State University of New York (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Florida International University (US)
- Northeastern University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Autism Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-09
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1476-1488
- ISSN
- 1939-3792 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-3806
- PMC
- PMC10081486
- OpenAlex
- W3084432675
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 118
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 1.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Autism Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, toddlers, skin conductance level, emotional arousal, fear, anger, joy, emotional expressivity, autism severity, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, emotional challenges, physiological arousal
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adult, Arousal, Emotions, Female, Galvanic Skin Response, Humans, Infant, Male, Young Adult
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